We may be institutionalizing rudeness, but increasingly it's the only productive way to work. Time to get past our misgivings about being rude and determine the proper etiquette of managing multiple conversations, on multiple devices all at once.

So many people are hiding these days behind their devices, using efficiency and speed as just one of the many excuses to avoid direct communication. I don't purport to be the Emily Post of digital etiquette, but the following are times when some form of more intimate and potentially interactive communication may be preferable to their smart phone or tablet equivalent.

According to a new study, 48 per cent of Canadian parents with children aged 11 and over now let their kids carry a cell phone. With a new school year well underway, this presents a new learning challenge for parents: How to teach their kids to use their cellphones appropriately. Not just from a safety perspective but from a "mobile manners" point of view as well.

It provides me with comfort, advice, laughs and, most importantly, companionship. The phenomenon is fairly easy to understand: Receiving an incoming email message is akin to having a note passed to you in class from the cutest boy in school. You have to look at it. Especially when you are in a situation where you can't.

By replying to that email, text,Tweet or wall post, we're missing out on real conversations with people in the same room as us. And worse -- we're saying 'I'm more important than you.' This Labour Day weekend, turn off that phone.

The next time you are sitting down to dinner, politely request that everyone turn off their phones and put them in the middle of the table in a big bowl. Some people will belittle this experiment -- but don't listen -- they are afraid of unobstructed conversation.